The story of the first Italian red-light entertainment agency in “Diva Futura” by Giulia Louise Steigerwalt, among the Italian titles in the running for the Golden Lion. The second work of the actress and director after the acclaimed debut “Settembre” in 2022, it tells the story of the eponymous reality created in 1983 by Riccardo Schicchi with the porn star Ilona Staller and retraces its incredible story, with the focus on the figure of the entrepreneur (Pietro Castellitto) – originally from Augusta (Siracusa) but Roman by adoption – who will transform the hippie utopia of free love into the new phenomenon of porn. Many “girls next door” will become “porn stars” and divas of international fame, including Staller herself (Lidija Kordic), Moana Pozzi (Denise Capezza), Eva Henger (Tesa Litvan), and will enter the homes of Italians thanks to the boom in private television and VHS, to the point of being hosted by illustrious anchormen such as Maurizio Costanzo and Enzo Biagi.
A revolutionary story, which the director, also screenwriter, delivers to the narration of the agency’s secretary, Debora Attanasio (Barbara Ronchi), with the precise intent of overturning, through her eyes, the point of view on that world full of contradictions, but profoundly human: “I needed to become part of this big family – Steigerwalt said in a press conference – to overturn the point of view, as happened to Debora. She is the gaze of all of us: she changes the point of view on that world and offers awareness in analyzing it, even in what, from the initial shining parable, will lead to something opposite”.
The inspiring idea of Schicchi’s revolutionary project, which convinced the director to make a film, puts women, their bodies and their dignity as people at the centreoffering a conception of porn free from prevarication, domination or violence towards it: «Violence was not part of the vision of Schicchi and his group. There was a total absence of modesty; but when you think about it you associate it with something slimy and aggressive. He deluded himself into thinking he was making art, breaking taboos and revolutionizing customs. Violence, on the other hand, is the double side of the coin, it is the human soul, love and death; in fact, Schicchi then realized that there was a loss of control over what he had paved the way for».
An extremely current theme today, in which violence is associated with sexuality, triggered by negative identification processes. “Schicchi did not want this identification with violence to be created, especially against women. – continued the director – Today, through the widespread diffusion of pornography, extremely negative models of violence against women are instilled in people’s minds with which to identify. Finding an opposite vision in a story from 40 years ago was fascinating and contemporary”.
A poetic aspect in the character of Schicchi, according to his interpreter Pietro Castellitto: «There was something profound in him that he had not betrayed. In addition to being a film about a cultural revolution, I believe it is the story of a man who managed to do a job that did not exist, and had to create the world in which to put that job. In this sense there could be a reverse catharsis, because witnessing the story of a man who managed to remain faithful to the ideal and the vision of the child he was, is something very poetic».
New awareness of a glossy world also for Barbara Ronchi, in the role of Debora: «I knew Pozzi, Henger and Cicciolina from their films. While filming “Diva Futura” I was very moved to discover that these women, almost divinities, symbols of pleasure, when they left the agency were not taken seriously, they could not be anything else. I discovered it thanks to Debora and like her I loved this ramshackle family very much».
The cast also includes Marco Iermanò from Locri in the role of Valentino, Schicchi’s assistant before Debora. «At the beginning of the film he supports this girl who arrives disoriented in a world outside the lines. He is a sensitive boy, well-disposed towards others and during the story he will have an important evolution that represented the great challenge of the role».
Produced by Groenlandia and Piperfilm with Rai Cinema and in collaboration with Netflix, “Diva Futura” will hit theaters in 2025.